The search for the bodies of three firefighters resumed yesterday in the wreckage of the burnt warehouse in Warwickshire where they died.

Once the firefighters from Hereford and Worcester have pinpointed the dead men they will hand over to Warwickshire fire service, who will carry out the bodies of their colleagues as a mark of respect.

A fourth firefighter has already been pronounced dead after the blaze.

The painstaking inch by inch search of the warehouse in Atherstone on Stour, Warwickshire, was being carried out yesterday by up to 100 people, including many Hereford and Worcester crews. It is expected that the search will be completed by midnight.

Warwickshire Fire and Rescue Service's deputy chief fire officer, Glen Ranger, said: "Warwickshire firefighters are absolutely committed to retrieving our colleagues. It's been difficult for them, but their professionalism as usual will kick in. We will be taking our own colleagues from this building as soon as possible."

Assistant chief fire officer Jon Hall, from Hereford and Worcester Fire and Rescue, said they had completed a search of half of the first floor and were in the process of clearing the ground floor. "We know the location of where they were last seen but we don't know where they are now," he said.

He said the layout of the unstable warehouse was similar to St Paul's Cathedral with a large open hall stretching from one side to the other.

Mr Ranger said although the search was "extremely emotional" it would continue in a professional manner. "There's still a professional, dispassionate job to be done," he added. "But the poignancy of working alongside our colleagues with the loss they've suffered is not lost on any single person working on this incident ground at all."

Search and rescue teams were sifting through rubble and debris using digging equipment and heat sensitive cameras more often used in earthquake zones.

Four firefighters died in the huge blaze, which broke out on Friday. They were named as John Averis, 27, Darren Yates-Badley, 24, Ashley Stephens, 21, and Ian Reid, 44.

The Local Government Association, which represents councils and fire authorities in England, called for a fundamental review of building regulations and said fire suppression systems needed to be in place to prevent future incidents.

Les Byrom, the LGA's chairman of fire services, said: " We must all make sure that lessons are urgently learned to reduce the possibility of these sorts of awful events happening again.

"While it is inevitable that firefighters will continue to risk their lives to protect others on a day-to-day basis, businesses, local people and government all have a huge role to play in cutting these risks to an absolute minimum," he added.